Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec
Sainte-Mélanie is a municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada, part of the Joliette Regional County Municipality. It is located along the western shores of the L'Assomption River.
Sainte-Mélanie | |
---|---|
Municipality | |
Rocher Lake, largest lake within the municipality | |
Location within Joliette RCM. | |
Sainte-Mélanie Location in central Quebec. | |
Coordinates: 46°08′N 73°31′W[1] | |
Country | |
Province | |
Region | Lanaudière |
RCM | Joliette |
Constituted | July 1, 1855 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Yves Beaulieu |
• Federal riding | Joliette |
• Prov. riding | Joliette |
Area | |
• Total | 78.30 km2 (30.23 sq mi) |
• Land | 75.84 km2 (29.28 sq mi) |
Population (2011)[3] | |
• Total | 2,892 |
• Density | 38.1/km2 (99/sq mi) |
• Pop 2006-2011 | |
• Dwellings | 1,404 |
Time zone | UTC−5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
Postal code(s) | J0K 3A0 |
Area code(s) | 450 and 579 |
Highways | |
Website | www |
History
Sainte-Mélanie was formerly part of the territory of the Ailleboust Seignory, granted to Jean d'Ailleboust d'Argenteuil (1694-1785) in 1736. By 1800, Pierre-Louis Panet (1761-1812) was Lord of Ailleboust, whose daughter Charlotte-Mélanie Panet (1794-1872) may have been the source of the name Sainte-Mélanie, also a reference to Melania the Younger (383-439). Charlotte-Mélanie's husband, Marc-Antoine-Louis Lévesque (1782-1833), donated the land in 1814 for a chapel that was eventually built in 1830. The Parish of Sainte-Mélanie was founded in 1832, and four years later in 1836, the post office opened under the name Daillebout.[4]
The municipality officially started in 1845, was soon after abolished, and reestablished in 1855 as Sainte-Mélanie-d'Ailleboust. In 1881, the post office was renamed to Sainte-Mélanie, and more than a century later in 1986, the municipality followed suit by also adopting this shortened name.[4]
Demographics
Population trend:[5]
- Population in 2011: 2892 (2006 to 2011 population change: 4.6%)
- Population in 2006: 2765
- Population in 2001: 2633
- Population in 1996: 2474
- Population in 1991: 2282
Private dwellings occupied by usual residents: 1,221 (total dwellings: 1,404)
Mother tongue:
- English as first language: 0.9%
- French as first language: 97.8%
- English and French as first language: 0%
- Other as first language: 1.3%
Education
Commission scolaire des Samares operates francophone public schools, including:
- École Sainte-Hélène[6]
The Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board operates anglophone public schools, including:
- Joliette Elementary School in Saint-Charles-Borromée[7]
- Joliette High School in Joliette[8]
Notable people from Sainte-Mélanie
- Aimé Pelletier (1914-2010), surgeon and well-known Quebec novelist, under the nom de plume of Bertrand Vac. Pelletier, who spent the majority of his professional career in Montreal, is interred with his ancestors at the Sainte-Mélanie cemetery.[9]
- Louise-Amélie Panet (1789-1862), artist and poet, wife of the seigneur of Ailleboust, died in Sainte-Mélanie;[10] the public library there is named in her honour.[11]
See also
References
- Reference number 278086 of the Commission de toponymie du Québec (in French)
- Geographic code 61050 in the official Répertoire des municipalités (in French)
- Statistics Canada 2011 Census - Sainte-Mélanie census profile
- "Sainte-Mélanie (Municipalité)" (in French). Commission de toponymie du Québec. Retrieved 2009-10-07.
- Statistics Canada: 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011 census
- "Sainte-Hélène." Commission scolaire des Samares. Retrieved on September 23, 2017.
- "JOLIETTE ELEMENTARY ZONE." Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board. Retrieved on September 17, 2017.
- "Joliette High School Zone Sec 1-5." Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board. Retrieved on September 5, 2017.
- Obituary, Aimé (Bertrand Vac) Pelletier; www.inmemoriam.ca.
- Karel, David (1992). Dictionnaire des artistes de langue française en Amérique du Nord: peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs, graveurs, photographes, et orfèvres (in French). Presses Université Laval. p. 610. ISBN 2763772358.
- "La bibliothèque municipale Louise-Amélie-Panet" (in French). Municipalité de Sainte-Mélanie.